ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — 87 Virginians were charged with crimes tied to the January 6 Capitol breach, and a dozen of them were known to be from or were arrested in our region.
President Donald Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people Monday for those charges.
John Fishwick, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia and current owner of law firm Fishwick and Associates, explained the pardons’ impacts.
For those who’ve been charged but are awaiting trial or sentencing, that case will be dismissed by the new Attorney General, he says.
Those actively serving a sentence should have had that sentence cut short immediately.
“For everybody who was in prison or jail last night, they should have been released,” said Fishwick. “Once a pardon is issued, it’s effective immediately.”
He says people who were found guilty and already served their time will simply get the pardon. For example, he explained, “for folks who were found guilty or pled guilty to a felony charge(s), they cannot possess a firearm unless that privilege is restored.”
President Trump and former President Joe Biden have come under fire for their use of pardons in the last few days. In addition to Trump pardoning January 6 defendants, Biden pardoned the House Committee that investigated the events of the insurrection plus his former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci.
“I think the pardon power was envisioned as an individual case by case basis for somebody that for equity reasons should be pardoned for what they have done,” said Fishwick. “I don’t think the founding fathers ever envisioned that presidents would sort of protect the folks who were on their side of the political equation and then have the other side protect the folks on their side.”
Biden said his pardons were issued to protect critics of trump, while Trump’s are following up on a long time promise to protect his supporters. Both presidents have come under criticism.
“That means both presidents have said we lack confidence in our criminal justice system in fact we lack so much confidence that we’re going to put our thumbs on the scale of justice,” he said.